The real question is not whether this is a bubble since as you mentioned even if AI settles into a somewhat useful semi-mainstream tech, there is no way any of the likely outcomes can justify this level of investment.

The real question is what are we gonna do with all this cheap GPU compute when the bubble pops! Will high def game streaming finally have its time to shine? Will VFX outsource all of its render to the cloud? Will it meet the VR/AR hardware improvements in time to finally push the tech mainstream? Will it all just get re-routed back to crypto? Will someone come up with a more useful application of GPU compute?

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halJordan 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Ai is already in semi-useful mainstream tech. There's a massive misunderstanding on this site (and other neo luddite sites) that somehow there is no "long tail" of business applications being transformed into ai applications.

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lawlessone 4 days ago | parent [-]

any examples?

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sindriava 4 days ago | parent [-]

Current systems are already tremendously useful in the medical field. And I'm not talking about your doctor asking ChatGPT random shit, I'm saying radiology results processing, patient monitoring, monitoring of medication studies... The list goes on. Not to mention many of the research advances done using automated systems already, for example for weather forecasting.

	▲	AlexandrB 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I'm getting real "put everything on the blockchain" vibes from answers like this. I remember when folks were telling me that hospitals were going to put patient records on the blockchain. As for radiology, it doesn't seem this use of AI is as much of a "slam dunk" as it first appeared[1][2]. We'll see, I guess. Right now I kind of land on the side of "Where is all the shovelware?". If AI is such a huge productivity boost for developers, where is all the software those developers are supposedly writing[3]? But this is just a microcosm of a bigger question. Almost all the economic growth since the AI boom started has been in AI companies. If AI is revolutionizing multiple fields, why aren't relevant companies those fields also growing at above-expected rates? Where's all this productivity that AI is supposedly unlocking? [1] https://hms.harvard.edu/news/does-ai-help-or-hurt-human-radi... [2] https://www.ajronline.org/doi/10.2214/AJR.24.31493 [3] https://mikelovesrobots.substack.com/p/wheres-the-shovelware...
	▲	lawlessone 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Ok, but i am asking for uses for LLMs specifically. Of course i agree ML has already helped in many other areas and has a bright future. But the thing everyone is talking about here are LLM's

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ACCount37 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

"The bubble will pop any minute now, any second, just you wait" is cope.

Even if AI somehow bucks the trend and stops advancing in leaps? It's still on track to be the most impactful technology since smartphones, if not since the Internet itself. And the likes of Nvidia? They're the Cisco of AI infrastructure.

	▲	HarHarVeryFunny 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The dot com bubble popped. It doesn't mean that the internet wasn't successful, just that people got way too excited about extrapolating growth rates. AI is here to stay, but the question is whether the players can accurately forecast the growth rate, or get too far ahead of it and get financially burnt.
	▲	ben_w 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The importance of the Internet didn't prevent the .com bubble from bursting.